First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC) Competitors

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) and First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, community ranking, profitability, risk, media sentiment, earnings and valuation.

Is WAFD or FFBC a better dividend stock?

WaFd pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. WaFd pays out 41.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 41.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. WaFd has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. First Financial Bancorp. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media refer more to WAFD or FFBC?

In the previous week, WaFd had 10 more articles in the media than First Financial Bancorp.. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for WaFd and 4 mentions for First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp.'s average media sentiment score of 0.72 beat WaFd's score of 0.29 indicating that First Financial Bancorp. is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
WaFd	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
First Financial Bancorp.	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WAFD or FFBC?

First Financial Bancorp. received 57 more outperform votes than WaFd when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 48.76% of users gave WaFd an outperform vote while only 46.43% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
WaFd	Outperform Votes 216 48.76%	Underperform Votes 227 51.24%
First Financial Bancorp.	Outperform Votes 273 46.43%	Underperform Votes 315 53.57%

Do analysts prefer WAFD or FFBC?

WaFd presently has a consensus price target of $38.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.79%. First Financial Bancorp. has a consensus price target of $27.33, indicating a potential downside of 4.66%. Given WaFd's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe WaFd is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WaFd	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of WAFD or FFBC?

83.7% of WaFd shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of WaFd shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, WAFD or FFBC?

WaFd has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is WAFD or FFBC more profitable?

First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 18.55% compared to WaFd's net margin of 13.97%. First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity of 10.32% beat WaFd's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WaFd	13.97%	9.44%	0.87%
First Financial Bancorp.	18.55%	10.32%	1.35%

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, WAFD or FFBC?

First Financial Bancorp. has lower revenue, but higher earnings than WaFd. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WaFd, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WaFd	$1.43B	2.04	$200.04M	$2.48	14.48
First Financial Bancorp.	$1.12B	2.45	$255.86M	$2.32	12.36

Summary

First Financial Bancorp. beats WaFd on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.